Baby Love: Fabric Scrap Puzzle Blocks

Pinterest is an amazing distraction :)  I came across this adorable kids craft project: a puzzle made using wooden blocks and scraps of fabric. It is from a great crafty website...Craftiness is Not Optional.

I love the idea of reusing and repurposing craft materials, especially when you are left with random bits of leftovers. I'm all about crafting for my little one-on-the-way and this could be a great toy to have ready for him. Plus, I totally love that I can use up some of my favorite fabrics for an attractive look :)

Here's another version....

... and click here for the tutorial.

Enjoy and happy weekend!

Dream Job: Buyer for Anthropologie

I recently started watching Man Shops Globe on the Sundance Channel (catch it Wednesday nights at 10 pm) and I am hooked.

The show follows Keith Johnson, the buyer-at-large for Anthropologie (amazing!!) as he travels the world in search of the coolest, most unique home accessories, furniture, fabric and other cool finds to furnish and sell at the Anthropologie stores around the country and apparently soon around the world.

So far I've watched him shop the biggest and best antique shops, markets and bazaars in France and Turkey. This photo was from last week's episode, when Keith was in Turkey shopping for fabrics.

He pulled out this gorgeous antique suzani...

photo via sundancechannel.com

Look closely at the coloring, the darker greyish spots used to be black but faded so much over such a long time, it's completely transformed itself into something new.

Johnson picked up on that and immediately knew it would be an inspiration piece. He then set out to find additional fabrics that could be transformed into something else...reinvented and sold in the stores.

His solution? He commissioned a local seamstress in Turkey to transform old textiles into one-of-a-kind pillows. They are extraordinary, I couldn't find any still photos online but I remembered that some of the pillows were featured in this Elle Decor article that ran about Johnson's apartment in the October issue.

Here's a photo, although the pillows are a little hard to see...they are there in the center of the yellow sofa:

photo via pointclickhome.

How beautiful are those pillows? You can check out the whole gallery of photos here. And I recommend you do because his apartment is so funky, fresh and worldly, you'll want to move right in.

I think they are also being sold in stores...I'll have to investigate and scoop one up!